Colombia · Business & founder
M Visa — Company Investor
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Last verified July 2026
100 SMMLV of registered foreign direct investment into a Colombian company. Resolución 5477 of 2022 is still in effect.
At roughly USD 54,000, this is among the cheapest investor visas anywhere, and Colombia's startup ecosystem makes it genuinely usable. As with every Colombian route, the visa itself is the easy part. The wealth tax is the hard part.
Qualifying routes
175.1M COP
Direct investment in a Colombian company of 100 SMMLV
100 × SMMLV 1,750,905 = COP 175,090,500, or roughly USD 53,839 at TRM 3,252.11 (15 July 2026)
The facts
- Minimum investment
- 175.1M COP
- Total landed cost
- Roughly USD 54k in investment, plus USD 3–8k in legal, incorporation and visa costs
- Route type
- Business & founder
- Timeline
- 1–3 months (Fast, once the investment is registered)
- Physical presence
- The visa lapses after a continuous absence of more than six months
- Family
- Spouse or permanent partnerChildren under 25
- Permanent residency
- R visa after 5 accumulated years
- Citizenship
- 5 years on an R visa, or 2 if married to, or a parent of, a Colombian
- Language test
- Covers the Constitution, historia patria, geografía and castellano, plus a culture module. Applicants over 60 are exempt.
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- 100 SMMLV of registered FDI into a Colombian company.The investment must be registered with the Banco de la República.A clean criminal record.Health insurance valid in Colombia.
What can go wrong
- The wealth tax on worldwide assets applies here too, from day one of tax residency. It kicks in above roughly USD 1.16M of net assets, at rates up to 1.5%.
- The threshold is a wage multiple, and it resets every January. The SMMLV itself is under litigation, following the Consejo de Estado's suspension of Decreto 1469/2025 on 12 February 2026.
- The investment must be registered with the Banco de la República as foreign direct investment.
- Colombia has had CFC rules (known there as ECE rules) under arts. 882+ ET since 2017, and it has been exchanging financial information under CRS since that same year.
- Time spent on a V visa does not count toward the R visa. Only time on an M visa accumulates.